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42
The district has hardly been free from Measles during the year, and
in March and May the disease was very rife.
The infectivity of Measles is very great, and commences at a time
prior to its usual recognition, and therefore measures to prevent its
spreading are difficult to adopt.
Mr. Jones, Superintendent of the Education Committee's School
Attendance Department, transmits to me weekly a list of the numbers
of children away from school owing to illness, and thus early intimation
is given in the case of Measles and Whooping Cough.
In March I advised closure of the St. Saviour's Infant School, owing
to the large number of children affected with Measles. I was induced
to adopt this measure owing to the fact that no cases occurred in the
Board School Infants' Department in the same road, and therefore
concluded infection was mainly spread by the school. The closure was
attended with good results.
In May my attention was drawn to the Maynard Road Infants
School, owing to the lowered attendance due to Measles. Further
than excluding children from infected houses and disinfection of
premises no action was thought necessary.
The circumstances of your district, where children mix so freely in
the streets, render school closure as a rule undesirable.
Leaflets dealing with Measles and Whooping Cough, their origin,
spread, symptoms, and prevention, were distributed and were found
useful.
Children who suffered from Measles were not allowed to return to
school for three weeks, following the onset of the disease, and then only
if cough and desquamation had ceased. No child was allowed to attend
school who had been exposed to infection within the previous sixteen
days.
The death-rate for Measles was .48 compared with .27 for the country
generally.
The death-rate for Whooping Cough was .32, that for England and
Wales .27.
It will be noticed that the deaths from Measles, 52, and Whooping
Cough, 34, are greatly in excess of those from Diphtheria and